Community concerns over battery energy store plans

1 hour ago

Christopher Mace,BBC Westand

Jeremy Stern,Neston

Grenergy A computer generated image of what the batteries will look like. There are green blocks, like shipping containers, in a row. There are
white charging points between the green blocks. There are fields either side.

People living near a site earmarked for one of the UK’s largest battery storage facilities have submitted objections to the plans.

Renewable energy firm Grenergy wants to build a 450 megawatt (MW) energy storage system near Corsham, Wiltshire, that would store energy produced by solar farms and wind turbines.

Jan Walters, who lives near the proposed site at Neston Park Estate, said: “I’m not a NIMBY [Not In My Back Yard], I just don’t think this is the right location.”

Grenergy said the facility had been “designed with the highest standards related to social, safety, and environmental considerations”.

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Walters added: “There are other places it should be, like brownfield sites.

“The planning application went in last summer and by August we had several hundred objections. That number has risen to 620,” she said.

The facility would include 108 shipping container-sized batteries along with an electricity substation, security fencing, lighting and CCTV towers.

Grenergy said: “There has not been a brownfield site found that meets these requirements.”

Joe Exom, who lives in Neston, said he had concerns over safety with the site.

“Trying to put out any kind of battery fire involves a huge amount of water,” he said. “This site doesn’t have an adequate water supply or drainage to prevent toxic run-off water entering into the ground and contaminating water supply.”